Naked Scant Survival

[BrownBear]

...opened a can of worms asking this question....

More like herding cats. :thumbsup:

 

[Artificer]

I guess I opened a can of worms asking this question. I guess I should of specified a survival situation in a Early American wilderness setting of the 18th Century.

Rick

OK, Rick, that's fair.

You already mentioned the person would not have a gun. Since most frontiersmen always kept a knife and usually a tomahawk on them, do we count them or not as one or two of the items?

IOW, I am trying to imagine a scenario when the frontiersman would not have had at least a knife and probably a tomahawk on him? Maybe if he was taking a bath in a pond or stream and he or his party was attacked and ran for his life and could not get back to where his clothing and equipment lay?

Gus

 

[smo]

I guess I opened a can of worms asking this question. I guess I should of specified a survival situation in a Early American wilderness setting of the 18th Century.

Rick

Sorry Rick :redface: I was distracted. In a 18th Century setting it would be Moonshine,Ginseng and Becky Boone :hatsoff: :haha: Wasn't she a red head? :idunno: darn black & white TV"s

 

[longcruise]

Alrighty then! Let's start over. :grin:

1. A hawk
2. A boiling pot
3. A large bag of trade geegaws.

 

[tenngun]

I guess I opened a can of worms asking this question. I guess I should of specified a survival situation in a Early American wilderness setting of the 18th Century.

Rick

OK, Rick, that's fair.

You already mentioned the person would not have a gun. Since most frontiersmen always kept a knife and usually a tomahawk on them, do we count them or not as one or two of the items?

IOW, I am trying to imagine a scenario when the frontiersman would not have had at least a knife and probably a tomahawk on him? Maybe if he was taking a bath in a pond or stream and he or his party was attacked and ran for his life and could not get back to where his clothing and equipment lay?

Gus

I recall that happening to Kenton. He had got wet atd was undressed drying his cloting just wraped in a blanket, when Shawnee hit his camp.Off he randevoid of all except his woodmanship.

 

[MSW]

depends of course on which sort of wilderness, but I'd like a buffalo robe, a good (very sharp) axe, and my fire starting works...

unless I could have a two bedroom, one and a half bath centrally air conditioned house with a fully stocked bar and a full 'fridge ... also a horse - a Paso Fino, and a beautiful woman carrying a fifty gallon jug of single malt ...

(hey - this is a fantasy, right?)

on further reflection, can I change my fire starting works to a boiling cup ... you water- is- funky guys are right!

 

[Billnpatti]

Okay, 18th century, I'd choose the following:

1. Fully loaded wagon and team
2. A large caliber smoothbore
3. That good lookin' blonde

Yeah, I know :youcrazy:

 

[Crewdawg445]

This is a very interesting, like seeing what everyone has to post because you are able to mentally see the difference in environmental areas between uschool all. For me being an eastern woodlands guy I'd keep my three item list at:

1. Fire steel
2. Belt knife
3. Belt axe

With all three I've got the bases loaded IMO for a large variety of tasks... However, if ya can't use your tools for multiple tasks, well your SOL! Neat topic :thumbsup:

One extra observation... I see nobody mentioned taking there wife. :rotf:

 

[Katahdin]

One extra observation... I see nobody mentioned taking there wife.
Could be the reason we are in the situation we find ourselves in!!!!!!!
First I want an ax,I can do more with it than a knife,,a bucket, 1--2 qt,(for food and water purification),,,flint,for fire starter(ax is my steel).
With those I can build a shelter,start a fire, purify water,kill and skin animals.

 

[BrownBear]

Without a doubt, the most important thing you can bring is experience. Ain't no tool in the world that will help if you don't know how to use it when the chips are down.

Ever really tried any of this stuff when the weather suxx? Got a back yard? Get out there and use the stuff next time the weather really turns on you. Better to learn right next to your heated house than miles from your truck.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Re: the need for a knife.
Had an eye opening experience in my late teens. We needed to cut several bales of cardboard open. It was fastened with some kind of twine. None of us had a knife. The old timer with us grabbed limestone rocks and smashed them together until one cracked. We used the sharp jagged edge to cut about twenty bales open. If it dulled, we just cracked another rock. It worked with something as soft as limestone.

 

[Nativearizonan]

Being able to choose the where and when (seasonally) would give you a better chance of survival than picking 3 tools. In the 18th century certain times of year are fat times; you wouldn't need to work at staying warm, and easily gathered food would be plentiful. You get by without any more stuff than the clothes on your back with little problem, and create your own stone age toolkit as you go. Other places and times would mean almost certain death, regardless of what you had with you. Imagine 8 ft of snow, all the water frozen, above tree line, so no firewood, no animals. I guess a buffalo robe and a hundred pounds of pemican, and a knife would be the best three things, and hope you survived until spring.

 

[Silky921]

She would've been sold for trade goods! :haha:

 

[omarick1948]

Being able to choose the where and when (seasonally) would give you a better chance of survival than picking 3 tools. In the 18th century certain times of year are fat times; you wouldn't need to work at staying warm, and easily gathered food would be plentiful. You get by without any more stuff than the clothes on your back with little problem, and create your own stone age toolkit as you go. Other places and times would mean almost certain death, regardless of what you had with you. Imagine 8 ft of snow, all the water frozen, above tree line, so no firewood, no animals. I guess a buffalo robe and a hundred pounds of pemican, and a knife would be the best three things, and hope you survived until spring.

In a survival situation, you couldn't pick sunshine warm or winter freezing. That's my point. Three items you would want to have with you at all times. Survival....period.

 

[Black Hand]

Never leave the house without a knife, some way to start a fire and a head full of information. You don't get to pick when a survival situation happens...